Christotainment: Selling Jesus through Popular Culture / Edition 1

by Shirley R. Steinberg,Joe L.

Overview

For more than two thousand years Christian expansion and proselytizing was couched in terms of 'defending the faith'. Until recently in the United States, much of that defense came in the form of reactions against the 'liberal' influences channeled through big-corporate media such as popular music, Hollywood movies, and network and cable television. But the election of Ronald Reagan as a Hollywood President introduced Christian America to the tools of advertising and multimedia appeals to children and youth to win new believers to God's armies. Christotainment examines how Christian fundamentalism has realigned its armies to combat threats against it by employing the forces it once considered its chief enemies: the entertainment media, including movies, television, music, cartoons, theme parks, video games, and books. Invited contributors discuss the critical theoretical frameworks of top-selling devices within Christian pop culture and the appeal to masses of American souls through the blessed marriage of corporatism and the quest for pleasure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813344058
Publisher:	Westview Press
Publication date:	02/10/2009
Edition description:	REV
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Shirley R Steinberg

Table of Contents

* Preface: Joining Team Christ On the Path to Christotainment, Shirley R. Steinberg * 1: Selling a New and Improved Jesus: Christotainment and the Power of Political Fundamentalism, Joe L. Kincheloe * 2: Christian Soldier Jesus: The Intolerant Savior and the Political Fundamentalist Media Empire, Joe L. Kincheloe * 3: Onward Christian Drivers: Theocratic Nationalism and the Cultural Politics of NASCAR Nation, Joshua I. Newman and Michael D. Giardina * 4: The Gospel According to Mel Gibson: Critical Reflections on The Passion of the Christ, Rhonda Hammer and Douglas Kellner * 5: Convertoons? VeggieTales for Young Souls, Michael Hoeschsmann * 6: Screening Jesus: Hollywood and Christonormativity, Shirley R. Steinberg * 7: Battle for the Toy Box: Christogimmicks and Christian Consumer Culture, Christine M. Quail * 8: Faith Talking Toys and Other Youth Purity Makers, Lisa M. Trimble * 9: The Stillborn Twin: The Christian Lifestyle Beats with the Heart of Rock n Roll, Philip M. Anderson * 10: Crossover Christian Rock and the Music Industry: Tendencies, Discourses, and Limitations, Silvia Giagnoni * 11: Christotainment in Punk Rock: Complexities and Contradictions, Curry Stephenson Malott